Yi Jing · Chinese tarot
Decrease
Hexagram 41 of the Yi Jing · 损 Sǔn
The figure
The Mountain above the Lake: taking from below to give above, the lake deepening at the foot of the mountain. The image of chosen decrease.
What this figure illuminates
Decrease lights up the moments when less is more: to cut back, simplify, give up a surplus for the sake of rightness. What is lightened can rise; not everything needs to be kept.
For a decision, the figure questions the superfluous: “what can I cut back without betraying myself, that would make me freer rather than poorer?”.
The classical text
The Judgment
Decrease: with sincerity, great good fortune, and no error — what is genuine can be kept up, and every move furthers. Even two small baskets of grain suffice for the offering, if the heart is true.
The Image
The lake gives up its depth to raise the mountain — the low decreased to serve the high. Seeing this, the noble person curbs their anger and stills their cravings.
The Six Lines
- First line
Set your own affairs aside to rush and help another — no error. But weigh how much of yourself it is right to give.
- Second line
Hold firm and do not throw yourself into action — that would harm. You can enrich another without emptying yourself.
- Third line
When three walk together, one must drop away; when one walks alone, they find their companion. The right pairing needs room.
- Fourth line
Lessen what ails you by letting the right helper hasten to you — and both are gladdened. No error.
- Fifth line
Fortune presses gifts on you that cannot be declined — ten precious shells. Great good fortune, blessed from beyond your doing.
- Sixth line
You enrich others and lose nothing of your own. No error; firm and correct, good fortune; every move furthers — and helpers gather beyond counting.
Daoa's wording, written after the classical reference translations, now in the public domain: James Legge (1882) and Charles de Harlez (1889).
A question to keep
What could you cut back without betraying yourself, to gain freedom?
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